The slow fluid motion in the film was achieved using Connexion3D’s Space Navigator and the music is improvised in one take on piano and guitar by Gary also. The film is in the video section of this site but also embedded below for your enjoyment.

Thursday 10 April - Social Media 2.0

15.45-16.45 Virtual Worlds Meet TV: Creating Social Communities Around TV Programmes
(Conference Room Méditerranée, Level 3)
Which side of the wall are you on? TV and Film OR Games and Virtual Worlds? That wall is about to crumble. Audiences are already spending up to four times as much of their entertainment time in virtual spaces than they are watching TV. EA Games has just partnered with Endemol to produce TV shows inside virtual worlds, MTV Networks has virtual versions of their popular TV programme Laguna Beach and there is a growing tide of shows from virtual worlds which mirror our experiences in the physical world. This exciting afternoon seminar will examine a wide range of cross-over services that work between games, virtual worlds and linear TV. This seminar is intended for games creators, social network managers and film and TV producers looking to merge their entertainment worlds. It will also be of interest to designers of games who work across media in the physical world using mobile, print, viral techniques, TV and the web.
Moderator: Guy Gadney
Speakers:
- Kate Bradshaw, Head of Online Commissioning, ITV (UK)
- Matt Costello, President, Polar Productions Ltd. (USA)
- Simon Nelson, Controller, Portfolio & Multiplatform, BBC Vision (UK)

“This Deakin University Arts Education community in Second Life aims to stir the imagination. It is a world we create and create within. It is at once a work of art and a place to inspire, make, share and present art. Our presence in SL is both for performance and is in itself a performance.

Our Second Life existence is an extension of our involvement in the real world where we are passionately immersed in the practices of teaching and learning in our art forms of visual art, drama, music, dance, and media.

One of the “Five Must-See Sites” in Second Life. Bettina Tizzy, NPIRL featured in New World Notes

1. MaYa Miquel - This must be the best sim I’ve ever seen in secondlife. And I’m playing for a while already. I totally love it. thank you!
2. Dizzy Sparrow - This is a very interesting place and would very much like for there to be more… are you going to be building things for the other days? Please say you are!
3. bebop Kohime - the most amzing place ive ever see in secondlife cant wait unyil the other tunnels are finished, thank you
4. Vedas Enoch - This is by far the most interactive and fun thing I’ve done on SL. Great job!
5. Trigit Amat - Congratulations! This is one of the most interesting and nicely done places i ve seen in sl! Keep up the great work, i ll come and see the progress regularly! Thank You from Trigit Amat (Trigital Vox)
6. Lor Gynoid - Cleverly done. I applaud the imagination that went into Thursday’s Fictons.
7. Kali Idziak - This sim is absolutely brilliant. Thank you for your efforts.
8. Sinclair Bracken - I thought it was fantastic. I hope you’ll keep it here, and even add to it. I love the poetry, and the sense of mystery. Really wonderful. I may not have gone all the way, and it seems as if there’s more to experience, and one is left with questions, but it’s really great.
9. Anni Aluveaux - Thanks for the experience, it was exciting.
10. Jenene Lemaire - amazing build so far, please finish this, one of the best I have seen so far. I want to see this movie now as well. Never heard of it before visiting this sim. Really pleased to have found this.
11. Kronos Kirkorian - Gary, Just came back to wander through this exhibit again. You’ve done a remarkable job here. Thoughtful, clever, insightful and compelling. You have become very skilled in the use of SL on many different levels. I hope you are proud of the effort, I have not seen anything in SL that comes up to the level of what you have accomplished here. Regards, Kronos
12. Alaken Tatham - A very provocative journey; one I will definitely recommend to friends. I would have liked a little more interactivity within the various alcoves, and the books of truth and lies seemed a little buggy for me, but this seems a work in motion. The visuals, sounds and music were excellent. It certainly piques my interest in both the book and the film. Thanks!
13. FleetingJoy Volitant - this is numinous. and it reminds me of the magical mazes i used to make myself as a child, full of secret passageways and amazing colours, i want a day that describes me- i pursue a life of love, plagued by painful empathy, ruined by fear of evrything except that love
    i’d like to enter other days. or even the now and i never managed to get beyond the green cupboard.
    to be honest, i want to reach a destination other than the place i ahve already been, but maybe that is not possible in any lifetime beautiful
14. Tiara Thibedeau - really cool, great fun and scary, beautifully put together.
15. sharron Nikolaidis - Briliant, please open the others, Loved it
16. Sejwan Vultee - That was an excellent journey please make more…
17. Craig Altman - finish the other tracks please…fridays was awesome…syn negulesco…
18. Yajaira Nikolaidis - I think this is truly the best place I have ever been in second life.. maybe try to do something there about love as well..the disorientatingness of it all….if that can translate into this.
19. Talliver Hartnell - very nice idea. please finish it. we’ll be back to play some more
20. Enzi Raymaker - The place is beautiful and well made … some times it feels a little scary and some others feels calm, that is fine for me… but too short, and still have no idea what is this about. Also you should give out landmarks so we can come back later and/or give away to our friends. I hope next time I come there is more to see and more path to walk. See you later -Enzi

Congratulations to all at the ABC and from our own team for making this such as success.

The island includes several innovative content formats:

- A 3D transparent dome constructed of RSS text news headlines,
- An Eco House which illustrates in an interactive way sustainable living and challenges notions of real vs virtual
- A Dreamtime Cove with indigenous animations presented around a campfire.

The ABC Island has been a success since its launch and is currently ranked as the number three worldwide brand in Second Life ahead of companies such as Microsoft, Sony BMG, IBM, Reuters and AOL).

More information

The island was produced and directed by the Australian arm of The Project Factory. The Project Factory produces 3D projects, virtual worlds and websites in the UK, US, Australia and South Africa. It produced and built the world number one Second Life brand presence for Telstra BigPond.

In addition to its product developments, The Project Factory publishes weekly rankings on the top brands in Second Life every Monday here

Commissioned by Multimedia Victoria and Acumentum, the project uses real-life images of graffiti, architecture and objects found in Melbourne’s iconic city streets, and recreates these to produce a completely interactive world where people can explore mysterious laneways, clubs, puzzles and cafes.

Head of Virtual World Development at The Project Factory, Gary Hayes, says:

“We wanted to catch the vibrancy of the Melbourne Laneways and the architecture of Federation Square. Second Life gave us the ability to animate these buildings and give them the movement that we feel they want.”

“Many 3D games and virtual worlds simply copy real world streets, architecture and designs. We look to reinterpret the physical world into something which suits the medium and creates an environment which people enjoy and want to come back to.”

The Melbourne Laneways project was launched and ‘unpacked’ live on the ABC’s island in Second Life on October 2nd.

* Video filmed and edited by SLCN.tv

Thursday’s Fictions is the story of a woman who tries to cheat the cycle of reincarnation to get eternal life. Adapted from the book, Thursday’s Fictions, by Dr Richard James Allen (short-listed for the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry at the 2000 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards), the film deals with themes of reincarnation and the nature of our universe.

The Thursday’s Fictions show was on ABC TV Sunday 29th July at 3pm.

View Thursday’s Fictions - Parable of Reincarnation, One Second Life walk-through

The brands featured include Reuters, BMW, Sony BMG and Ericcson, BigPond, Reebok, Vodafone, IBM, ABC TV, Showtime, Pontiac, American Apparel, Virgin, Dell, NBC, Apple, Sears, Circuit City and AOL.

These are the companies that are currently gaining first-mover advantage from their Second Life worlds - for example being included in our video! In all of these cases, it will be important for them to keep their sites up-to-date, fresh and interactive to maintain the level of visitor interactions that they are currently getting. In some cases, we would recommend that they start again and rebuild their world to be more interactive - there were tumbleweeds rolling through a number of the major brands’ buildings when we visited.

At the heart of a successful virtual world is an appreciation of how to structure the content to meet the needs of the participants. One of the reasons that the BigPond presence remains as the world’s most visited brand is because it was built to be explored and enjoyed - not as just a shopfront. A book is different to a movie, and a website is different to Second Life.

Over at Telstra BigPond there are 11 islands. As with any 3D world, the best way to experience it is to get into it. There’s a full Telstra press release on the Telstra site with screenshots. Our favourite pix are the fireworks over the Harbour Bridge at night. Enter the world via BigPond.com and you will get dropped straight onto the islands.

The 11 Telstra BigPond islands, produced and developed by The Project Factory, were launched a week ago just ahead of the ABC.

The ABC’s island formally launched on 19th March and was accompanied by a special report on the ABC’s flagship Four Corners show. The island was directed and built by Gary Hayes in collaboration with AFTRS, The ABC and ABC Friends.

There was a full launch event, and Q&A after the program. The event was well covered by Lowell Cremorne of the Metaverse Journal site.

The Project Factory has also announced the formal launch of its Australian office and you can see more pictures of the space where we work and the water-side views in the Press section.